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Check the dates, when there were this Genoese community and thousands of Europeans. I don't know for sure, but most likely it was after sea road to China. Lithuania has to do with it, because it was pagan country, hostile to Christian Europeans that took territory between Western Europe and China or Mongolia. Middle east was controlled by Ilkhanate, Central Asia by Golden Horde these two were hostile. Lithuanians were hostile to Golden Horde. Where is this magical way to China?

The Lithuanian only start threaten the Ukraine route in the mid 14th century, meaning that Lithuanian conquest is irrelevant to whether European can travel to China or not. By that point, the Ming is already retaking China and then expel foreigners.

That is the map of Mongol empire at its largest. It might seem that you can travel trough Golden Horde, to China. but relationships between those were very often uncertain and this would lead you trough steppe with no roads. Golden Horde lost good chunk of this territory anyway and it was even theoretically impossible.

This is supposed route of Marco Polo. First not all scientist agree that he even been in China at all. Second, because of various warring factions obvious from map above it was possible only for something like 20 years. Is it such great benefit, that trade route opened sporadically for 20 years. I mean Greeks and Romans had some trade with China without any help from Mongols.

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